Bodies of victims to be flown home from Bolivia

According to a report today in Belgrade daily Danas, the families of the victims informed the Interior Ministry (MUP) that they did not have the money to pay for the transport of the bodies.

Since Serbia does not have a permanent diplomatic mission to Bolivia, the delegation, from the Serbian embassy in Brazil, will go to Bolivia to take over the bodies of Saša Turčinović, Bojan Bakula and Predrag Čanković, and transport them to Serbia via airplane.

The three were killed on May 14 in a shootout between crime groups while working as security for one of the biggest drug lords in Bolivia, who was kidnapped in the incident.

The bodies are expected back in Serbia during the weekend.

According to the Serbian Foreign Ministry, Bolivia has offered to pay to have the bodies transferred to Madrid, Spain, while there are ongoing negotiations with Jat Airways to get a special plan to fly them from Madrid to Belgrade in order to speed up the process.

The ministry stressed that the families of the victims were consulted and informed every step of the way.

The average cost of preparing the transport of one body from Bolivia is about USD 3,000.